According to an American Jewish Committee survey, when asked what political issue was most important to them, 4.5% of American Jews said U.S- Israeli relations, and a paltry 1.3% said Iran’s nuclear program. This is very troubling. If American Jews don’t care enough about Israel’s survival, and preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, then who will?

Jews in America clearly underestimate how important a strong and prosperous Israel is to the collective Jewish psyche. After all, the welfare of Israel is not disconnected from that of American Jews. If something terrible were to happen to Israel, or should there be a mass migration of Jews out of Israel, the status of the Diaspora would be negatively impacted forever, including in the United States.

Oh, won’t Levine and Gordis have red faces when they read those two sentences from Phil. There’s gonna be a whole lot of D’oh-ing. There they were, straining every sinew and abnegating the heck out of themselves to save the Jews, but going about it the wrong way! How embarrassing!

Besides, call me a male chauvinist, but I get real tired of the Judaism as a maiden-in-distress thing. The old girl’s been around the block once or twice already.

“If something terrible were to happen to Israel, or should there be a mass migration of Jews out of Israel, the status of the Diaspora would be negatively impacted forever, including in the United States.”

As I have said in the past, there is a perverse relationship between American Zionist Jews and Israel. In ways that I don’t fully understand, Israel is the linchpin which organizationally unites the various segments of organized Jewry, something the Judaic religion is no longer capable of doing. Israel needs the organized American Jewish Diaspora to sustain its hegemonic ambitions, American Jewish Zionists need an aggressive, militarized Israel to facilitate their power-seeking activities.

“For Israel’s new American Jewish ‘supporter,’ however, such talk bordered on heresy: an independent Israel at peace with its neighbors was worthless; an Israel aligned with currents in the Arab world seeking independence from the United States was a disaster. Only an Israeli Sparta beholden to American power would do, because only then could US Jewish leaders act as spokesmen for American imperial ambitions.” (Norman Finkelstein)

The numbers are not very plausible. – Why does Romney campain in states with a decisive number of Jewish votes on the issue of Israel’s savety and him standing firm with Israel, if American Jews don’t care?

What am I, Citizen, chopped liver? I’ll have you know Mitt called me with a personal message, which he was so eager to tell me I couldn’t even interrupt him, he just talked over me. And if that doesn’t show he’s qualified to be President, my name isn’t Derbig Mooser!

In the interests of complete disclosure, I’d like to state that I am not more than 12-14% chopped liver. There’s bagel (mostly jalapeno-cheddar, go figure) but by far the predominating ingredient is schmalz. I’m trying to convert a few grams of that chicken fat into funk at the chicken shack, but it’s not easy.

“when asked what political issue was most important to them, 4.5% of American Jews said U.S- Israeli relations.”
————
That may be so, US-Israeli relations may not be top ranking, “most important”,
to 95% of American Jews. – But it’s enough if the issue ranks second or third on their rank-order of concerns to make a difference whom they are voting for.

the dissolution of the zionist entity israel is going to liberate jewish-americans from the antisemitism brought about by the entity’s false claim that it represents jews everywhere. in other words, disappear israel (the entity, not its people) from the map of the world and antisemitism will be reduced to a size that can be flushed down a toilet.

Remember when we had an (actually) Catholic president? Almost no-one was worried that the Vatican would tell him what to do. Can you imagine a (an actual — not a Zionist ‘bot’) Jew running for president and trying to persuade the American electorate that Israel would not get us into other wars? After the Iran THANG? I think most Jews in USA would appreciate being regular citizens, without carrying the burden of anything like dual loyalties, and without capos telling them what to think and so forth. (However, maybe I think this way only because that’s were I am already. It just seems so comfortable.)

If Israel was an exemplar of democratic governance instead of a state that sponsors assassination of those who oppose it, then young Jews from America and elsewhere would wish to associate themselves with it. Unfortunately, this Israeli government is determined to breach international law, day after day, and to treat the UN with contempt. This is not a role model for democracy or for human or civil rights.

RE: “If something terrible were to happen to Israel, or should there be a mass migration of Jews out of Israel, the status of the Diaspora would be negatively impacted forever, including in the United States.” ~ Sammy Levine

MY COMMENT: This reminds me of something I remember having read long ago about the Jewish community in Atlanta. As I recall it [subject to confirmation and/or clarification], when the upsurge in pogroms against the Jews in Russia occurred in the late 1800s, Atlanta’s established Jewish community became concerned that an influx of Jewish immigrants from Russia and Eastern Europe might threaten their standing and perhaps even subject them to an outbreak of the more overt types of anti-Semitism that they for the most part were not then experiencing.
I will try to find a source for this and post it as a “P.S.” reply to this comment.

P.S. The most likely place I can think of where I might have gleaned the above information on the established Jewish community in Atlanta in the late 1800s would have been one of the books about Leo Frank and his trial (unless perhaps I read it in the Southern Israelite at the library). In particular, I recall one book about Leo Frank and his trial that emphasized the resentment by the rural/agrarian folk of what they perceived to be their “exploitation” by the urban-type factory owners.
Unfortunately, I can’t seem identify the the particular book that might have contained the information about the Jewish community in Atlanta in the late 1800s.

RE: “If something terrible were to happen to Israel, or should there be a mass migration of Jews out of Israel, the status of the Diaspora would be negatively impacted forever, including in the United States.” ~ Sammy Levine

MY COMMENT: That’s why I have advocated for a “backup Israel” in what is now known as Uganda (or perhaps Alaska)!

FROM ‘THE PHRASE FINDER’:

Re: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET – “To rely too much on one resource or one line of effort; to risk everything on a single venture. The same thought was embodied in a proverb now forgotten: ‘Venture not all in one bottom.’ Giovanni Torriano, writing on popular phrases in 1666, used one expression to define the other: ‘To put all ones Eggs in a Paniard, viz., to hazard all in one bottom.” ~ From “The Dictionary of Cliches” by James Rogers (Ballantine Books, New York, 1985).

@Dickerson3870. I recall after the war an area in British Africa being mooted as an alternative territory for the displaced Jewish people. I have never been able to locate to origin of that recollection but I do remember it being discussed by the grown ups because it conjured bewildering images in the mind of a six year old who thought Jews were like the people released from camps on Pathe News, and Africans carried spears and shields and wore grass skirts.

RE: “I recall after the war an area in British Africa being mooted as an alternative territory for the displaced Jewish people.” ~ NickJOCW

SEE: The Uganda Proposal @ Jewish Virtual Library:

[EXCERPTS] Theodor Herzl sought support from the great powers for the creation of a Jewish homeland. He turned to Great Britain, and met with Joseph Chamberlain, the British colonial secretary and others. The British agreed, in principle, to Jewish settlement in East Africa “on conditions which will enable members to observe their national customs.”
At the Sixth Zionist Congress at Basel on August 26, 1903, Herzl proposed the British Uganda Program as a temporary refuge for Jews in Russia in immediate danger. By a vote of 295-178 it was decided to send an expedition (“investigatory commission”) to examine the territory proposed. . .
. . . The Uganda Program was finally rejected by the Zionist movement at the Seventh Zionist Congress in 1905, but Nahum Syrkin and Israel Zangwill called an alternative conference to continue the plan of the Uganda scheme. . .. . . After the rejection of the Uganda scheme on the grounds of impracticability by the British, Zangwill turned his attention to settlement in Canada and Australia. But opposition from local residents led him to abandon the scheme. Expeditions were sent to Mesopotamia (Iraq), Cyrenaica (Libya) and Angola but little came of these expeditions.
A project that had some concrete success was the Galveston scheme which contemplated the settlement of Jews in the American Southwest, in particular in Texas. The project received the assistance of Jacob Schiff, the American Jewish banker, and some 9,300 Jews arrived in that area between 1907-1914 . . .

“If something terrible were to happen to Israel, or should there be a mass migration of
Jews out of Israel, the status of the Diaspora would be negatively impacted forever,
including in the United States.” (Sammy Levine)

If there were a mass migration of Jews out of Israel, the Israelis would be moving in with their American Jewish relatives? This has the makings of (yet another) bad reality television show: “The Real Housewives of Israel (emigrated to NYC)” Just think of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey”, with the cast consisting of Jews instead of Italian-Americans.

Actually, if there were a large-scale emigration of Israeli Jews to the US, the Palestinians might be better off. And the Israeli Jews would be better off, living in the US instead of the middle east.

In real life, a few years ago, a group of Israeli Jews sued in German court for the right to immigrate to Germany. The plaintiffs argues that they (or their relative) had been forced to leave in the 1930’s and 1940’s, and therefore were entitled to return to Germany. The German court agreed with them. In turn, the Israeli government lobbied the German government to restrict Israeli immigration into Germany. (Juan Cole has the details, but I don’t have the link),

“If something terrible were to happen to Israel, or should there be a mass migration of Jews out of Israel, the status of the Diaspora would be negatively impacted forever, including in the United States.”

Can’t help thinking he’s right, you know. I’ve always maintained that the settlements, if not Zionism in general, helps keep incarceration rates for Jews in the US comfortably low and Jewish crime disorganised. I mean, why not go where it pays?

“Without the State of Israel, the self-confidence and sense of belonging that American Jews now take for granted would quickly disappear.” LMAO!! As an American of Irish descent, the State of Ireland provides me with “the self-confidence and sense of belonging that America’s Irish now take for granted!” Haha!

That may sound funny to you, because Ireland is not about to be overrun by Persian hordes. Moreover, in that unlikely eventuality, the most notable effect that I can foresee would be an alarming increase in the number of highly inebriated Persians.

A demise of Israel is promised in various places to be more calamitous, with nukes being sent hither and thither. Suppose that an investigation proves that the explosion that laid waste to Washington DC. area took place in the basement of AIPAC headquarter. All Major Jewish Organizations would be placed on terrorist list and all donors would get 1 year in prison per donation. Subsequently, people donating to help the families of the imprisoned would be jailed as well etc.

My precise meaning is that Israel has the most effective military force in the Middle East, and is victorious on weekly basis against villages like Bil’in. But the leaders crave a larger achievement, perhaps on the scale of the Battle of Gaugamela link to youtube.com

**The man who just spent several years heading the Foreign Ministry’s department dealing with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign against Israel concluded in a wide-ranging and confidential report that Netanyahu’s central policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians, the settlements and anti-Israel activists is not only wrong, but it’s hurting the country, Maariv’s Eli Bardenstein revealed. “We have become more of a stationary target, that does not create its own agenda, but rather reacts to the agenda of others,” wrote D.J. Schneeweiss, a respected diplomat who was appointed over the summer as Israel’s new consul-general to Toronto and Western Canada, in a Foreign Ministry report surveying the de-legitimization campaign against Israel. (NRG Hebrew)
Here are the report’s main points:
On Palestinian request for recognition of statehood by the UN.
“Recognition of a Palestinian state by most countries of the world does not mean denying or negating the existence of the State of Israel.”
On the demand to recognize Israel as a Jewish state:
“Recognizing Israel as a Jewish state is does not ensure Western principles of legitimacy.”
On dealing with anti-Israel activists:
“One cannot forget that our behavior also affects and shapes the reality.”
On the diplomatic freeze with the Palestinians:
“There is no doubt that proper management of the diplomatic (peace) process can limit the effects of the hostile campaign of the various anti-Israeli messages.”
On the government decision regarding Judea and Samaria (W. Bank):
“One must take into account the way that Western countries will perceive such moves.”
Schneeweiss also opposes the automatic assertion that every anti-Israeli act is anti-Semitic and every criticism against settlements is de-legitimization, Bardenstein wrote.

“Without the State of Israel … sense of belonging … would quickly disappear”
—————————————–
After the Romans had wiped the anti-imperialist Jewish freedom fighters off the map in 70 and 130 AD – did the Jewish “sense of belonging quickly disappear”?

“Jews have always been leaders in The Left. Sure, they lost [in 70 A.D.],
but at least they tried! ” – Mooser
—————————————————–
Fair enough, but why did they stage a revolution against six Roman legions under the command of two future Roman emperors, Vespasian and his son Titus? -That’s a rebellion against all odds.

The answer is, in the words of Marvin Harris:

“The Jews fought on, convinced that the real messiah would yet appear. … Despite fanatic resistance, Titus broke into Jerusalem in 70 A.D., set fire to the temple and burned everything in sight.

Reflecting that the siege of Jerusalem had cost the Jews over one million casualties, Flavius Josephus bitterly denounced the messianic oracles.”
——————————————————————–
How about today’s messianic oracles in Israel?

Mondoweiss in Your Inbox

Get Mondoweiss delivered directly to your inbox every morning and stay up to date with our independent coverage of events in the Middle East!

Support Mondoweiss’s independent journalism today

Mondoweiss brings you the news that no one else will. Your tax-deductible donation enables us to deliver information, analysis and voices stifled elsewhere. Please give now to maintain and grow this unique resource.